Dickens Society Symposium
As part of its Dickens in Lowell celebration, the University of Massachusetts Lowell hosted one of the two 2012 Dickens Society Symposia offered in this bicentennial year. Scholars presented their work July 13–15, 2012 at the Tsongas Industrial History Center.
Hotel accommodations in downtown Lowell at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center provided easy access to a major exhibition at the National Park's Boott Gallery, Dickens and Massachusetts: A Tale of Power and Transformation. The exhibition included several rare artifacts, including the 1842 portrait of Dickens by Boston painter Francis Alexander, the Daniel Maclise portrait of the Dickens children, and the Boston Line Type edition of The Old Curiosity Shop donated by Dickens to the Perkins School for the Blind in 1868.
The popular Dickens walking tour of Lowell (first offered at the Dickens and America conference in 2002) and an interactive session at the Tsongas Industrial History Center were some of the featured offerings at the symposium. Evening events included participation in "Dickens and Steampunk" special events.
